Foundation cancels RBG award ceremony that would have honored Musk, Murdoch after family's outcry

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: CNN Politics

Published 5:41 PM EDT, Mon March 18, 2024


CNN — The foundation that selected SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch and other honorees as recipients of an award named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg announced Monday it is canceling its award ceremony after receiving pushback from the late justice’s family.

Julie Opperman, chair of the Opperman Foundation, said in a statement “that the last thing we intended was to offend the family and friends of RBG.” “Our purpose was only to remember her and to honor her leadership. And, while we believe each of the honorees is worthy of our respect for their leadership and their notable contributions, the Foundation has decided that the planned ceremony in April 2024 will be canceled,” Opperman said.

The slate of this year’s honorees for the foundation’s “RBG Leadership” award, formerly the “Ruth Bader Ginsburg Women in Leadership” award, was announced last week and also included lifestyle icon Martha Stewart, actor Sylvester Stallone and financier Michael Milken.

Members of the Ginsburg family and a former clerk for the justice called on the foundation to pull her name off the award, with her son Jim Ginsburg telling CNN’s Paula Reid on Sunday that the choices of Musk and Murdoch were a “desecration of my mother’s memory.” “When you think of trying to create a more just society, which of course was Mom’s ultimate goal, those are probably about the last names that would come to mind,” he said.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/18/politics/ruth-bader-ginsburg-award-ceremony-cancelled-elon-musk-rupert-murdoch/index.html

[Blue Owl]

1. Good.

What the hell were those foundation fucksticks thinking in the first place???

[elleng]

2. GOOD!!!

[BComplex]

3. What I can't believe is that a foundation bearing her name would be run by MAGAts!!! WTF????

Someone needs to put actual HUMANS in charge.

[intheflow]

18. Or at least a family member on the award committee. n/t

[rsdsharp]

38. The Foundation doesn't bear her name; the award does.

The Foundation is named for Dwight D. Opperman. Opperman grew up poor in Perry, Iowa, later went to Drake Law School, and for many years was the CEO of West Publishing. West publishes, among other things, state and federal reporters of legal decisions. If you want to read your state supreme court’s published decisions, you go to the appropriate volume of the appropriate regional reporter. In the case of my state, that would be the Northwestern Reporter.

West also developed a keynote system, so that opinions are broken down by key numbers on specific topics to aid research. West also publishes regional and state digests which allows attorneys to efficiently research the law. Westlaw, the computer legal research program is an offshoot of the keynote system.

When Westlaw first came out in the mid 1980s, he gave Drake one of the first (actually I think THE first) Westlaw lab. He also endowed multiple annual scholarships at Drake law, which were full tuition, plus a fairly generous cash stipend. (No, I didn’t receive one).


I don’t know what the hell is going on with this award, or his surviving family (Opperman died in 2013), but he was a pretty good guy.

[SharonClark]

54. I heard, possibly on NPR, that Mrs Opperman is a major Trump donor.

And a longtime GOP contributor.

[rsdsharp]

67. She was his second wife.

I have no idea what his politics were, although he was on the Forbes 400 list. He died nearly eleven years ago, so he never gave a dime to Trump.

[yonder]

64. Thank you for that background.

[moniss]

4. But a question remains

because they only said they are "canceling the ceremony" which does not say they are not still giving the awards to that group of scum. Only statement I see is "no ceremony".

[BumRushDaShow]

12. A Washington Post article on it has this -

Jim Ginsburg, the liberal justice’s son, told The Washington Post via email that he is “relieved” that the awards will not proceed.

Opperman said the foundation will “reconsider its mission and make a judgment about how or whether to proceed in the future.” The award previously had honored only women but had been expanded to include men for this year’s ceremony, which was scheduled to take place at the Library of Congress on April 13.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/03/18/rbg-award-opperman-musk-murdoch-canceled/

The suggestion from Jim Ginsburg that there would be no awards. But it's possible they may just "wait" until it blows over and then maybe do the awards in a "private ceremony"... although the best of options is to cancel the whole thing this year and re-do something for next year (WITHOUT the RW loons).

[ShazzieB]

26. Expanding it to include men was their first BIG mistake.

Last edited Mon Mar 18, 2024, 11:52 PM - Edit history (1)

Nothing against men (I'm married to a fine one, and we have some great ones here at DU), but taking ANY award that was created to honor members of a particular group and expanding it to include anybody is NEVER a good look.

It was as if the NAACP Image awards were suddenly opened to white people. Not quite THAT bad, but in the same vein. It was just plain stupid to think no one would mind.

Choosing that particular group of men as recipients was just the 🍒 on top of the 💩 sundae!

[BumRushDaShow]

32. The more I'm reading about it

the more I realized they hijacked the thing and completely made a RW loon awards foundation out of it - essentially using the money from it and ditching the namesake for it.

[cstanleytech]

49. Actually men can be worthy of it imo but only if the award is related to them contributing something towards

creating a more just society "for" women.

[ShazzieB]

53. That makes more sense.

[ToxMarz]

63. Alway "Follow the money"

Just looking at the selected Award Recipients, this is NOT an "award" ceremony, this is a back scratching, networking, money grifting scheme.

[Shermanator]

43. Or just rename

The award to something else. Leave RBG's name out of it.

[mopinko]

65. i suspect her son will make them take her name off it.

happen to know jim, and glad he spoke out. i was waiting. i suspect he was getting his ducks in a row before he did. needless to say, he knows a LOT of lawyers. iirc, he’s sued before.
havent spoken to him in dog yrs, but we’re fb friends. he hasnt posted about it yet.

eta if any of these men had a shred of decency, they’d refuse it.

[Comfortably_Numb]

5. Oh lawd.....the man-baby billionaire is going to burn up Nazi-X now. Snowflake bigot that he is.

He’ll cry for affirmation from the Eloon-lets and they’ll oblige.

[getagrip_already]

6. Does this "foundation" have any connection to rgb or her family?

It doesn't sound like it?

Why would you give a women in service award to mysogynists?

How can they just use her name?

[BlueKota]

31. I want to know who is on their nominating committee

[Biophilic]

7. I can't understand how anyone thought Musk and RBG should be group together for anything.

[niyad]

13. There is one thing I wish they were together for.

[Biophilic]

29. Oh, such a bad dog. Me too.

[Jean Genie]

8. BS!

And are Elon and Murdoch women now?

[4lbs]

9. I'm glad they did this, but it should have never even reached this point.

(paraphrasing)
"Hey, you helped put RBG into the ground, Musky and Murdoch, so the least we can do is give you an award named for her."

Umm..... tone deaf much?

[Hermit-The-Prog]

10. It's offensive to me and I'm not part of her family.

[tanyev]

11. Every single one of those names is a slap in RBG's face,

except maybe Martha Stewart. I don’t know where she stands on issues these days.

Had to be deliberate.

[ificandream]

15. Martha Stewart has said she's not a Republican, but she also didn't endorse a candidate in 2020

But it should come as no surprise that when the Times asked her about “whether she planned to publicly support a candidate in the 2020 presidential election,” Stewart said she is not publicly endorsing anyone, because it would be bad for business. She says, “My personal conundrum is, my friends know who I am and what I stand for, but in terms of being the owner of the magazine” — as well as a number of consumer brands and media franchises — “how do you take sides when 50 percent of your readers might be on one side, and 50 percent on the other? It’s difficult. That’s my answer to that.”

https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/martha-stewart-wont-endorse-a-presidential-candidate.html

[LisaM]

36. I do think Martha Stewart is a Democrat.

Years ago she told Letterman "I'm going for Al!" during the 2000 election. Not a huge surprise but she may well have gotten the kind of payback we know Bush and his ilk were capable of.

[canuckledragger]

14. I'm not sure Sylvester Stallone should get anything either.

I lost all respect for him when I learned that he stole someone else's life story to launch his career...the rocky films are Chuck Weiner's story, whom eventually had to sue Stallone over rights and profits.

https://www.nbcsportsphiladelphia.com/news/gonzo-stallone-stole-wepners-rocky-story/288706/

[SergeStorms]

75. As an actor....

I don't think he'd be on top of anyone's list. There are so many infinitely better actors than Sly Stallone. 🙄
Why not Jodie Foster, Glenn Close, Tom Hanks, Helen Mirran, Judy Dench etc. etc. etc.. Each one head and shoulders above Stallone in acting ability.

[keopeli]

16. Well, they've taken down their website. I'm sure they were flooded with complaints.

[rpannier]

17. Michael Milken and Sylvester Stallone???

Cobra and the 'Junk Bond Man'?!!!

Those four were the best they could do for the first year of including men?
Because I can think of a lot better men than those four who meet the criterion they set out
Makes me wonder who the judges are

[muriel_volestrangler]

59. Last year, the judges included Stewart and Stallone's wife - this was the "foundation" praising its own

The foundation didn’t share how this year’s award recipients were chosen. But last year’s 12-member award committee included Stewart as well as Jennifer Flavin Stallone, Sylvester’s wife. Stewart also attended the 2022 ceremony.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/03/15/ruth-bader-ginsburg-award-backlash/

[brer cat]

19. Good. They should never have been in charge of selecting the

honorees for an award in RBG's name. They just love slapping her in the face.

[Hikerchick57]

20. Thank goodness!

[50 Shades Of Blue]

21. Get a load of this --

Julie Opperman according to Federal Election Commission filings, is a major Republican donor. In 2016, she donated $50,000 to Rebuilding America Now, a super PAC founded by Paul Manafort and Tom Barrack—two top Trump advisers—to support the Trump presidential campaign. That year, she also donated $2,700, the legal maximum, directly to the Trump campaign. In 2020 Opperman contributed $200,000 to Republican campaigns and PACs, including a $100,000 donation to the Take Back The House 2020 PAC and $92,000 to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/03/justice-ginsburgs-family-decries-bestowing-rbg-award-on-elon-musk-and-rupert-murdoch/

[rubbersole]

22. I'm surprised Rushbo wasn't on the original list.

He speaks for justice and women. Yes, sarcasm.

[barbtries]

23. well at least they had enough shame

to cancel it. why the fuck they would choose these people for awards in the first place is a whole other thing.

[BlueKota]

34. Probably only because they're afraid they'd get sued,

and they're overwhelmed with hate e-mails.

[barbtries]

37. hmmm

I don't know that RBG's family could do anymore than they did to protest the decision. Maybe Musk or Murdoch will sue.

[Farmer-Rick]

24. That Opperman filthy-rich woman

Is so disengenuine.

"Julie Opperman, chair of the Opperman Foundation, said in a statement “that the last thing we intended was to offend the family and friends of RBG.”"

Yeah right. It was the main thing she intended to do, and she did it. What a piece of work.

[BlueKota]

33. Just when you think Magats couldn't sink any lower.

[PlutosHeart]

42. It is about theft, usury and insult.

They were using RBG's image to justify their monsters. So sad.
I am glad the family spoke out.

[mwb970]

58. I always think they can sink lower.

And they always do.

[intheflow]

25. 100% done on purpose.

First, take away an award for women’s excellence, because woman have equal rights now and it’s discriminatory to single out just one gender. Just as all Black people are equal to whites because Obama was president, women are completely equal to men because FIVE women have sat on the SCOTUS. This is their mentality!

Next, make sure you show how non-discriminatory you are by having a 4:1 male/female awardee split. That’ll really start to even the playing field again for all the men who were shunned by this award in the past.

Finally, make sure you find the most antisemitic, misogynistic, ethics-free and empathy-challenged men you can think of to give an award to that’s named after a feminist Jewish woman who worked for real justice for “the least of us.”

Any one of those things, maybe I could give them the benefit of the doubt. But this trifecta is too specific to be random. I mean. They didn’t have any other people they considered for the award they could have brought forth this year? I’ll bet their idea was to scuttle the award all along.

[LisaM]

39. Well stated.

I don't know if you spend time drafting talking points but you should!

[ZonkerHarris]

27. I read that as "cancel the ceremony" but the awards will still be given out quietly/privately

[The Grand Illuminist]

68. That is snatching victory from the jaws of defeat.

Which is a weakness on our side that needs to be conversed to make sure that don't happen.

[BaronChocula]

28. I'm wondering

Why would the family of RBG allow a foundation named for a venture capitalist and run by republicons allow them to bestow awards under RBG's name???

[Hassin Bin Sober]

30. What the fuck were they thinking?

[LiberalFighter]

35. Nothing more? Not rescinding the award to them?

[BigMin28]

40. This was no mistake

The chair of the committee for RBG Award is Brendan Sullivan, Oliver North's attorney.

[Fla Dem]

41. Hooray! At least they made the right decision this time.

All I can think is the foundation members who made the decision to honor Musk and Murdoch must have had their heads in a shopping bag.

[Blue Idaho]

44. Jeeze - talk about tone deaf...

Time for a shake-up at the Opperman Fund.

[mainer]

45. Opperman's 2nd wife hijacked the award

From the Washington Post:

“Ginsburg was longtime friends with Dwight Opperman, who served as president of West Publishing Co., which created the online research service Westlaw. He and Julie Opperman married in 2008. He died in 2013.
“Neither of his two sons nor any other biological relative is involved with the Dwight D. Opperman Foundation,” Vance Opperman, the son of Dwight Opperman and his first wife Jeanice, told The Post. He added that none of his biological family is in touch with Julie Opperman and that they were “unhappy to have their names associated with this.”

[SharonClark]

56. That is just sad for the kids.

[japple]

46. Happy that my Rec brought this to 100 recs and thrilled that the family of RBG spoke out

against the injustice of honoring such unworthy people. Like TFG giving Rush Limp the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

[ToxMarz]

47. Wow, I feel bad for Martha Stewart.

What a miserable pack of fellow recipients.

[LeftInTX]

48. We need to create our own "Clarence Thomas, Uncle Tom awards"

And of course pick: AOC, Kamala Harris etc.

[louis-t]

50. "The last thing we intended.."?

What the hell were you thinking?

[Nictuku]

51. Good!!!

[The Grand Illuminist]

69. They are still getting the award.

Just not publicly. Still a massive shame.

[lakercub]

52. Scum up and down the list

Stallone is nothing like a good actor in 95 percent of his stuff, Musk is a petulant man-child making billions off his family's blood mining money, Murdoch poisoned everything, and Milken was a great example of the wretched excess of the Reagan years and is walking filth. Milken was also pardoned by Trump late in his "presidency." This list is meant to be disrespectful to RBG or to try and fool the credulous into thinking these were her type of people. I had not heard of Julie Opperman, but she seems to be an especially loathsome individual.

[Quakerfriend]

72. Yes, total scum! And, MuskNazi too!

RBG must be turning in her grave!

[SharonClark]

55. Why do any of these people need another award?

I see it locally, the same people are honored by multiple organizations because their little clique of the rich and powerful rotate thru the boards of corporations and non-profits and take turns giving awards to each other.

[BumRushDaShow]

60. I had posted some excerpts from WaPo upthread

but another excerpt had a WaPo take that I think hits the nail on the head in answer to your question -

Galas built around impressively named awards are a stalwart of the Washington elite social scene — and a way to entice celebrity honorees to rub elbows with politicians and business leaders over $1,000-a-head plates of prime rib. Even as many of these awards dinners succeed at raising funds or awareness for worthy causes, the see-and-be-seen spectacle is often what fuels the entire endeavor.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/03/18/rbg-award-opperman-musk-murdoch-canceled/

[mwb970]

57. Why would they choose such horrible people??

I don't get it.

[wolfie001]

61. Performative, hateful RW hacks!!!

So glad this was this outcome!!!

[riversedge]

62. well, it must have been a hard decision!!--It took the committee a very long time to do this.

[Initech]

66. What a slap in the face to everything RBG stood for!

Glad they axed that one! Fuck Elon.

[mathematic]

70. Musk, Milken, and Stewart have all been recognized by the federal government for their financial securities achievements

This is pretty ridiculous. Obviously the awarding organization was hijacked by a right winger that thinks this is funny.

[BumRushDaShow]

71. "Musk, Milken, and Stewart have all been recognized by the federal government for their financial securities achievement

And 2 of the 3 that you list , have had this honor -



But yeah, according to several articles on them, they made a big change to the original criteria last year and vomited forth this nonsense.

[SergeStorms]

73. Who are the clueless dipshits...

that chose those two soulless assholes in the first place?

I smell some right-wing rat fucking going on here!

[live love laugh]

74. That's what I want to know.